


Play Time

by Niki



Series: Takeo Shepard [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, M/M, Not Part of the 'Verse Officially, That's More Like Time-Travel, Time-Travelling Scars, de-age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 18:30:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niki/pseuds/Niki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It wasn't hard to connect the fact that the three children trapped in armours meant for much larger beings were in fact the missing team – a turian, asari and human child who just happened to look like their missing crew mates was bit convenient for a set up. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Play Time

**Author's Note:**

> An AU addition to Takeo Shepard universe. Written for hc_bingo square “De-Age” ages ago, just never posted anywhere. Figured I'd post this, too, now that I am trying to clear my WiP folder, even if it is silly. I meant to write crack and then it turned all serious – Chakwas' vision is an echo of the story this was supposed to be.
> 
> ("Time-travelling Scars" was a title suggestion I got from an online title generator;)
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of Shepard's childhood, so references to underage prostitution.

When the Normandy lost touch with the away team, Steve flew back to the ship to take Kaidan, Tali and Vega on the planet to investigate. What they found was... unnerving. And cute. 

It wasn't hard to connect the fact that the three children trapped in armours meant for much larger beings were in fact the missing team – a turian, asari and human child who just happened to look like their missing crew mates was bit convenient for a set up. 

None of the three seemed to have any memories of their life beyond their apparent age. And they all seemed to be the same age, too, which immediately struck Kaidan as odd – Liara was about a century older than the others, if they had just been physically de-aged, shouldn't their ages be comparable?

He left Tali and James to look around, trying to find an explanation, a machine, a gas, anything, but admonished them to be careful. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Tali if her suit suddenly didn't fit her anymore.

He took the kids to the Kodiak. They were all scared enough to follow any adult that spoke in a friendly voice, which was a relief. Liara did want to know what kind of an alien he was, of course. Humans hadn't yet made contact when she was a kid.

Kaidan couldn't say anything about the alien children, but Shepard was about five or six, and... and shit, if he had his old memories, he was a street kid who had just lost his mother and fuck.

He looked at the kid walking by his side, his green eyes sneaking looks at him, at the others, at their surroundings... He was used to taking care of himself. Used to not trusting anyone, and... it hurt, physically hurt him when he thought about it, looking at the achingly young face. This kid had sold himself in the streets to live. Had paid for his meals by giving blowjobs to strange men and why was he following Kaidan here? Why wasn't he trying to hide, run away?

“Holy shit, Major, I thought you were kidding!” Steve exclaimed when they reached the shuttle.

“Would I kid about something like that? And mind the language.”

“Who are you?” Liara asked, curiously. “Are you a hu-man too?”

“Yes, Liara, he is.”

“How do you know my name?” she asked, frowning. “I didn't tell you.”

“I know your mother,” Kaidan said, hoping it would be enough to satisfy the inquisitive girl – Liara had to have been one. 

What was Garrus' father's name? Well, maybe he wasn't as distrustful as a kid and he wouldn't be interrogated. “And your father, Garrus.”

He turned to his lover, and hoped he was right about this. “And I knew your mom, too, Takeo.”

The child's eyes widened at the mention of a name only his mother had known and used, and then Kaidan found his lap full of a shaking Shepard, tiny arms around his neck, and he hugged him closer, hoping more than anything to have been able to do this to the man when he actually was that age, to have been there to protect him from everything.

“This is Steve,” he told the children. “He is the pilot, and just as soon as James and Tali join us, we can go up to our spaceship.”

“Spaceship? Like in Star Wars?” Shepard asked.

“Yes, just like in Star Wars,” Kaidan replied.

Then, grinning, he reached out with his biotics, and picked up a datapad resting on the seat opposite. Shepard shrieked with joy. “You're a Jedi!”

“I don't have a lightsabre, though,” he said, apologetically.

“What's a Jedi?” Liara asked. “That's just biotics. All asari have biotics. I will develop some later.”

So Shepard told them about the Jedi, lightsabres and the evil empire and Kaidan figured it was safe to leave them to it, for a moment.

“Have you found anything?” he asked from the others through the comm. 

“I wish Liara was here to make sense of these notes,” Tali said. “But it is a device... I think. It's not like any technology I've seen. Not Reaper tech, at least.”

“This is her field,” James said. “I'm just here to guard her back.”

“Do you need more time?” 

“No, I think we've done what we can here. We can study these on board the Normandy. I'd like to have Doctor Chakwas take a look at the... them.”

“Yeah. Come back, then.”

\- - -

“Well, aren't they... cute.” Chakwas said when she saw the kids. “You do understand this is physically impossible.”

“Yes. So how did it happen?”

“What is impossible?” Liara asked.

Screw it, Kaidan thought. “Well, when you all went down on that planet, you were 109, and we had known you for three years. You're a doctor, a scientist. Garrus, you're... Well, you were also a grown up, before. You're a soldier. And Takeo... You're our leader, a soldier. A hero, like Luke Skywalker.”

“But we're children,” said Liara, matter-of-factly. 

“Yes, you are,” said Chakwas, who had been running unobtrusive tests on the background. “But what kind of children remains to be seen.”

Kaidan sat back, helping her hold the kids when needed, entertaining them when required, and worried. The child Shepard was adorable but his mind couldn't help but go to the worst-case scenarios. What if it was permanent? What if the man he loved was forever gone?

He couldn't even imagine what it would do to the war effort. He knew what it would do to him. Would it be better or worse to have the child? He would take care of him, of course he would. But Takeo would not grow up into the same man he had been, would never have the same memories. And as much as he wished Shepard could have been spared from many of the things he had had to go through, they had still made him the man he was today. Well, had been, earlier today.

It hurt, looking at the young face, thinking about what he had already gone through, and even worse, and it did make him feel guilty, was the resentment he felt because the child was there and his Shepard wasn't. 

And then he'd see the scar on his face and... Scar.

“Are they the children they were, once, or the adults they were, made younger somehow? Shepard has his scar. How can he have his scar? I mean, if the body was just made younger... but then, their memories... It almost sounds more like...” Kaidan frowned, when he couldn't find the word he was looking for, and blinked, momentarily confused. “Where was I?”

“Kaidan...”

He tried to hold on to his memories, his thoughts, but the planet, the war, everything started feeling really distant, and the past... the Brain Camp, Rahna, all that was closer and closer...

“Quick! It's happening to me,” he said, hurriedly. “Are there any tests you can run? Tali!”

Chakwas hooked him into a diagnostic machine, and he could almost feel his body changing. He clung to his memories, his love for Shepard, his training, anything he could think about.

“If I revert as far back... Tali...”

“Quarian children grow up in bubbles,” Chakwas said, stress making her voice steely. 

“Tell me you served with my dad and I'll trust you,” he said, hurriedly. “You can find his service records through mine. Sorry.”

\- - -

“Kaidan, could you please look after Shepard for a bit?”

“Why are you calling him Shepard? His name is Takeo,” the lanky teenager said, sulkily, but reached for the dark-haired child almost instinctively it seemed. 

Chakwas found it interesting that the man remembered that when he couldn't remember anything else about the ship or its crew. His suggestion about serving with his father had been a good one, though, and he had settled down easily enough. 

James Vega and Tali had not transformed, their memories and bodies just as they had been when they landed, so for now they – the remaining adults on board – were going with the theory that it was spending time with the kids that had affected Kaidan. Even if it threw all their theories about the device down on the planet out of the window.

Steve and James were washing the Kodiak after taking tests of all the surfaces that had been touched, and EDI was keeping an eye on them over the cameras. Her mobile platform was with Liara, as she shouldn't be in any danger from a biological problem, and she was uncommonly well-suited to answer all her endless questions. 

Garrus was in the medbay for her tests, and she wore a mask and gloves, hoping it was enough to keep her protected. When she started going... 

She had a sudden vision of EDI trying to look after a ship full of toddlers, and had to bite her lip not to laugh. Garrus was a very serious child and wouldn't understand her hilarity. It was also a scary vision, and remembering that sobered her up easily.

Shepard was deeply distrustful of everyone on board except Kaidan – for some reason those two seemed to... maybe remember each other on some level? Or then what ever drew them together as adults was there from the beginning. It was weird calling it chemistry when talking about a five and a fifteen-year-old but there was something connecting them, an invisible tie. 

Maybe it was just an echo of what they were to each other as adults, and if so, it was actually a good sign. If they retained something of their true selves – ages – then maybe the rest was there, too, and could be returned. 

Otherwise, she didn't look forward to reporting to Hackett and Anderson that their best hope of defeating the Reapers was playing hide and seek with his crew, and they would have to give it a decade or two to get him back. Not that he'd even grow back into the man he had been, because his life would be so different this time round. 

\- - - 

Kaidan had never been fond of children. He never met any, at the normal course of things, and he didn't really care to. But Takeo was unlike anything that he had thought kids were like. Adventurous, funny, and the trust in his green eyes made something ache in his chest, and made him swear to make sure nothing bad ever happened to this tiny person.

From random words and stories Kaidan figured that the kid had actually lived in the streets before coming to this ship (and how did they end up here, anyway? His memories were a little hazy, there, but the doctor knew his dad so it had to be all right. Right?) and the mere idea made him want to hold him close so that he'd never be scared again, or go hungry again, or have to beg for his food.

They searched through the ship, top to bottom, and everyone was really kind and friendly, but... they looked at them like they hadn't ever seen human kids before, and while he understood why the aliens would feel like that, why would the humans do, too? Well, maybe they just weren't used to seeing children on board an Alliance vessel. 

He'd never seen a ship like it, either! The pilot told them it was a turian/human co-creation and wow, they sure kept that under wraps. There had been nothing in the news in... When was the last time he saw the news? What day was it, anyway?

“Thursday,” replied the pilot, and looked a little worried. Why? Were they late for something? 

“Yeah, thanks, the date, please,” he said, and knew he sounded sarcastic but couldn't really care. Something was going on in here.

“I'm hungry,” Takeo said, tugging on his hand, and Kaidan let himself be led towards the kitchen and the huge fridge filled with food. 

He was hungry all the time, too, thanks to the biotics, and... wait, shouldn't he be at Brain camp? What was he doing, babysitting a non-biotic kid on a spaceship?

Well, food first, questions later. He scooped Takeo up and he climbed like a little monkey to sit on his shoulders, laughing with joy, and damn but that was a wonderful sound that made him laugh, too.

“What do you think, Commander? Bantha steaks or mynoc eggs?”

“You can't be Han Solo if you're carrying me. You're a tauntaun!” 

“Are you saying I smell bad?”

\- - -

Samantha Traynor couldn't help but snap a picture with her omnitool when the two kids walked past his station. Major Alenko made a handsome teenager, even though his too-large clothes made him look thinner than he actually was. And the Commander was an adorable kid, black hair sticking in every direction and green eyes sparkling with laughter. He was dressed in one of Daniels' spare shirts and the smallest shorts they could find on board, which wasn't even close to five-year-old sized, and he, too, looked smaller because of it.

If this lasted longer, they'd have to find a place to buy clothes for all of them, and maybe – she didn't want to even think about it, but if they stayed as kids... they would have to leave them somewhere, somewhere safe, because they still had a mission, as hard as it would be without Shepard, and a ship at war wasn't a place for kids. 

And it was getting increasingly difficult to keep the situation from Diana Allers. They had barred the elevators from stopping at the engineering level for now, but that would only work for so long. That woman was a terror. Or very good at her job. Possibly both.

\- - -

“You can sleep in the captain's quarters,” the ship's doctor had said, and Kaidan had accepted with a shrug.

The ship didn't seem to have a captain on board, so why not?

Takeo fell in love with the fish. Who put a fish tank on a spaceship? This was a weird ship, altogether. 

“What kind of fishes are they?”

“Fish. The plural of fish is fish. Like sheep, or reindeer.”

“What are reindeer?”

Yes, well, maybe Santa didn't make many stops on the streets. One of these terminals should be able to connect to Extranet, surely. He'd just show the kid a picture of a reindeer and then they could...

“Do you know what year it is, Taki?” he asked, eyes on the screen.

“2160,” the kid replied, eyes glued to the colourful fish.

“And I would have said 2166,” Kaidan muttered, still staring at the date. “Taki, will you be all right for a moment if I go see the doctor lady?”

“Are you okay?” the kid asked, frightened eyes turning to Kaidan who knelt down in front of him and accepted the tight hug the boy gave him.

“I'm fine, I promise. I'll be back. Soon. You can look at the fishes until then, okay?”

“Fish.”

He smiled, and ruffled the kid's hair. “Good boy.”

\- - -

As soon as Chakwas saw the expression on the teenage-Kaidan's face, she knew she was in trouble.

“What's today's date, Doctor?” he asked, faking calm.

“I see you've found out the year,” she said.

“Yeah. Did you know I was born on 2151? So I should be 35. Not fifteen.”

“You are,” she admitted, sighing. “Or rather, you were.”

“What the hell is going on?”

“That's what we're trying to find out. You are Major Kaidan Alenko, the second human Spectre,” she could see the boy's eyes almost bulging out of his head at that. “And somehow, earlier today, you reverted to... this.”

“And... and Taki?”

She raised her eyebrow at the nickname. “Commander Takeo Shepard. The _first_ human Spectre. Also, your boyfriend.”

“I think I need to sit down.”

“I think you are in need of a little medicinal.”

Under normal circumstances she wouldn't offer brandy to a teenager in a million years, but now, here? She really, really needed a drink herself. 

“I left... him watching the fish in... the captain's... wait...”

“His cabin,” Chakwas nodded. “He's in charge of our mission.”

“Which is?”

“Trust me, you don't want to know.”

“I know I'm younger than you're used to seeing me...”

“It's not that, Kaidan, not that at all. It's just... a lot has happened in the universe during the years you skipped, and... well. I don't think you need to hear most of it right now.”

“I think I need to go back, I can't leave... my boyfriend?” he asked, sounding lost. “Is one of those things that happened the fact the regulations changed radically?”

“These are rather exceptional circumstances,” Chakwas said. “Only we on the ship know, anyway. We're... all rather close. We have worked together for years.”

“Well, sorry to... not be quite myself. Boyfriend?”

“Would it be easier for you to come to terms with that if you could see what he really looks like?”

“Yes, please. I mean, I like Taki, but... he's like a little brother to me. At the moment, at least.”

Chakwas didn't know if she was doing the right thing, but it's not like she probably should have told him anything. Then again, whereas the kids had just shrugged off the knowledge they used to be older, a teenager would be harder to distract.

She opened her omnitool and looked for the picture Liara had forwarded her... There. Shepard was laughing, a rare open expression on his face, and his arm was around Kaidan, who was looking at him with such joy on his face Karin had decided then and there to save the image to present the men one day at their wedding.

Teenage-Kaidan looked at the picture like a work of art.

“I don't suppose Rahna ever... liked me back, then,” he said in small voice.

“You met Shepard three years ago,” Chakwas said, gently. “You had had a whole life before that. I can't say what happened to any of your relationships before that. All I can tell from your service record is that you never married anyone.”

“I thought you said we were close.”

“Yes... but I have only ever seen you with Shepard.”

“I have to go. I... do you think I should tell Taki?”

“You did once already, before you were affected. All the kids...”

“All?”

“Two other of your crew mates were affected. An asari and a turian.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, the kids seemed to bypass the info as not important.”

“Wait, he really is a commander,” Kaidan remembered.

“Yes?”

“I mean, I've been calling him Commander all day because of Star Wars. You know, the old vids? Commander Luke Skywalker?”

“Maybe we'll have a vid night soon. Who are you, then?”

“Han Solo. Or a tauntaun, depending on our mode of transportation.”

The grin was equally attractive on the teenager's face as it had been on the man, Chakwas decided.

\- - -

Kaidan wondered how he would feel seeing the kid now that he knew... Damn. The man in the holo had been obviously him, older, having fun, and the other man... he could see the similarities to Taki, those green eyes, the shape of his nose... 

There was no emotional connection with the men in the picture, but... he did love the kid. Was that somehow a leftover from who they had been? Is that why Taki had trusted him so fast?

The cabin was illuminated only by the giant fish tank when he walked in. Realising that the fish really were Taki's brought a smile to his face. The kid himself was in bed, looking so small under the blanket the smile vanished instantly. He had trouble relating to any of this, but the thought of that kid, living alone in the streets...

He undressed down to his shorts and the t-shirt before climbing into the bed himself. Takeo was awake, and instantly moved towards him, back against back, like a person used to needing another's warmth to sleep. It hurt to think about the reason behind it. 

“Good night, Commander,” he said, liking his private joke.

“Good night, General Solo,” came the sleepy reply.

\- - - 

Kaidan awoke partly at some point, opening his eyes to see a familiar stranger by his side. It was Shepard all right, and not quite as young as he had been. From the absence of the Akuze scar Kaidan sleepily figured he was a teenager, too, then went instantly back to sleep, never thinking about what his deductions meant about his own age and memory.

\- - - 

The next time he woke up it was to an upheaval in the bed. Shepard was sitting up, and looking wildly around him. When Kaidan sat up as well, stretching and yawning, Shepard's eyes widened, and his voice was shocked.

“Kaidan?”

“Morning,” he muttered, before memory kicked in. 

Right. De-aged shenanigans, and Shepard... Well, he still had his scars but he recognised Kaidan, so...

“Don't panic,” he said. “There's been a... an accident of sorts. What's the last thing you remember?”

“Feros? The Thorian, and then reporting to the Council and... Where the hell are we?”

He was tugging at the clothes that must be strangling him. Kaidan got up, figuring that this was not a conversation to be had half-naked. He would be happy to get rid of the very, very tight shorts as well. Had he really been that much skinnier as a teenager?

He went to the locker that housed their spare clothes, and handed Shepard a clean pair of briefs, uniform pants and a shirt. They were the updated model which would look weird for Shepard-of-three-years-ago but at least they'd be better than nothing. He extracted his own clothes, and headed towards the bathroom. He changed there as well, just to make things a little less awkward. 

“Okay, I think you'd better sit down,” he said, returning.

“That bad?”

“In a way. Feros was three years ago. And... quite a lot has happened during that time. We are on board the Normandy SR-2.”

Shepard looked at him like he suspected he was crazy... but then looked at the cabin again, and nodded. 

“Okay, let's say I believe you. I mean... you do look... different, and... Wait, why do I have memories of seeing you as a kid? Something about a... tauntaun?”

Kaidan laughed. “Your trusty steed,” he said, grinning. “That's what's going on. Yesterday you, Liara and Garrus went planetside to explore an abandoned Cerberus base.”

“Liara and Garrus? They're here?”

“Yes, a lot of the crew will be familiar...ish to you. Anyway. Somehow you were transformed into children. I took Tali and Lieutenant James Vega down after you, and... what ever affected you affected me too, but to a lesser amount as I turned into a teenager for the day, and Chakwas set me to babysit you. We had fun,” he said, grinning. His memories were closer, but still it felt like something that had really happened when he was fifteen. For Shepard, it would be even further away. 

“And as you are back, and I am... growing, I suppose it means it's wearing off?”

“I hope so. But we should really go down to meet Doctor Chakwas.”

“In a moment. I understand why we ended up in the same bed, babysitting and all, but...”

“But why are my clothes up here? Do you want to guess?” Kaidan asked, grinning again. “I do know you already... liked me three years ago.” 

Shepard looked at him with an unreadable expression, as if waiting for the punchline, then, slowly, he started to smile. “Really?”

“Really,” Kaidan said, grin softening into a smile. 

“And... we're together? On an Alliance ship? Is that one of the things that happened? They got rid of the fraternisation regs?”

“Unfortunately not. But... there are bigger problems at the moment. And Spectres have no regs,” he said and couldn't contain the grin.

Shepard's brows rose on his forehead. It made his scars move in a way Kaidan realised he had missed. He wanted to run his fingers over them, to find out what they felt like. How the hell did the mysterious de-age ray make them reappear?

Shepard noticed him staring, and he turned his face away, flushing. He had to remember that the man next to him on the sofa was not his lover. 

Shepard leaned closer. “May I?” he asked, hand hovering next to his face, and Kaidan nodded, breathless.

“If you promise not to blame me for it, later,” he muttered against his lips.

“Two first kisses,” Shepard said. “Who could complain?” And then he leaned the rest of the way in, and Kaidan opened his mouth, instinctively, welcoming his tongue.

It was not like the kisses he'd gotten used to, not the man who had learned his shape and taste hundred times over. It was exploratory, curious... and still damn hot. Kaidan had to struggle to remember why they shouldn't do this. But running his fingers over the scars, feeling for the first time the shapes that had been so familiar... it was hard to make himself let go, knowing it was something he'd never be able to feel again. He pulled back, dropping one last kiss on the Akuze scar.

“We, uhh, really should go see Doctor Chakwas.”

“No two first times?” Shepard asked, lightly.

“That... feels like crossing a line. Sorry,” Kaidan said, seriously, and Shepard smiled wryly. 

“Well... considering you're staying faithful to me, how can I complain?”

\- - -

“So, who's on board, and what's our mission?” Shepard asked in the elevator, all business.

“Joker, Adams, Liara, Garrus, Tali,” Kaidan listed. “Chakwas.”

“Not Williams? Wrex?”

“Wrex is a leader of his clan these days,” Kaidan said, grinning. “He's a bit busy.”

“He what? Well, good for him. And Ashley?”

“I'm sorry. She was killed.”

“Oh. How?”

“Does it matter? With any luck you'll remember soon enough.”

“And our mission? Am I just going to have to wait for that, too?”

“Yes.”

“Well, nice to meet you again, Commander,” Doctor Chakwas said as they walked into the medbay. “Kaidan.”

“I'm back,” Kaidan said. “All my memories intact. Shepard is on Feros. How are the others?”

“Tali and James never showed any signs of change, Liara is studying for her first doctorate, and Garrus is C-Sec.”

“He's not C-Sec any more, then?” Shepard interjected.

“No, he also has... a position back at Palaven,” Kaidan explained. “How are they taking their current location?”

“Liara is with EDI, who I believe is telling her all about Protheans. That should keep her busy for a moment. Garrus... is sparring with James.”

“Ouch.”

“Indeed. There was nothing on the samples we took, so I don't think it's anything chemical, after all. I am going back to the mechanical theory. I think... Think about all the people who were affected, Kaidan. James and Tali were unaffected. They're also the only ones who don't have biotics.”

“I don't have biotics,” Shepard pointed out.

“But you were exposed to eezo before birth, physically you are similar to them even if you never manifested any skills.”

“But how would that work? I mean, asari and turian biotics are different to humans.”

“But the underlining biology is the same. I sent Tali back down with James and Steve, and with that theory in mind, she thinks it may be some sort of radiation.”

“But how would that even work? I mean... I was 15 yesterday. I had all my memories up until then, and now... now I remember the day as if it _had_ happened two decades ago. And how can Shepard's scars be back?”

“Wait, what? What happens to my scars?”

“You don't want to know,” Kaidan said. “Trust me on this.”

“To answer your question... I don't know. It sounds more like time travel than transformation but... it's possible we'll never know. Now is not really the time to concentrate on scientific research,” Chakwas said. “Maybe... after, someone more specialised can give us some answers.”

“After our mysterious mission I don't want to know about it is over,” Shepard said. “Fine. What do we need to do?”

Chakwas and Kaidan shared a look. The latter shrugged.

“Let's contain the facility,” he said. “Make sure no one else stumbles into it. Then... let's continue our mission. I can handle the ground missions with James and Tali until...”

“I can still shoot a gun,” Shepard said tetchily.

“But you don't know who to point it at,” Kaidan said, calmly. 

“I'm not sure I want you going either, Kaidan. We can't know how you have been affected, if you are still in danger of... reverting.”

“Fine, then James, Tali and Javik have to take care of any emergencies,” Kaidan decided.

“Javik?”

“Oh, you are going to love this. He's a Prothean.”

\- - -

“So you tell me we have a living, breathing Prothean on board then tell me I can't meet him?”

“Trust me, you don't want to. He's a rude son of a bitch. I just hope EDI can keep that bit of info from Liara.”

“Who's Edie?”

“Hello, Commander,” said a female voice from seemingly nowhere.

“What?”

“I am EDI. I am the ship's AI.”

“We have a... Kaidan, I am coming to suspect 'a lot has happened' was a bit of an understatement.”

“I know. Maybe we should just... go back to your cabin. Someone is bound to say something to make this whole thing worse. EDI, we'll be up. Let me know if anything urgent comes up.”

“Admiral Hackett is expecting a report.”

“Stall him. Or submit a written report of our findings. Try to keep Shepard's state a secret if possible. We don't want to worry Hackett unduly.”

“Understood, Major.”

Damn. 

“Major, huh?” Shepard said. “Fine, we'll go up, and you can tell me how you came to outrank me.” 

\- - -

Next morning Kaidan woke up to a kiss, and was kissing back even before opening his eyes. Shepard. No scars.

“Shepard!” he exclaimed, sitting up. Shepard was grinning.

“Good morning, General Solo, sir.”

“Good morning, Commander,” Kaidan replied, smile slowly growing on his face.

“I can't leave you alone for a day,” Shepard said. “Kissing strange men...” Then he sobered up. “You made the three-years-ago me very happy, you know. He was just coming to grips with loving you, and then he woke up in a future where we were together.”

Kaidan just smiled, not knowing what to say. 

“Not that you wouldn't make the present me very happy, too,” Shepard said. 

Kaidan raised his hand to run it over the spots where the scars used to be. He realised he'd seen Shepard do something similar – touching the scars that weren't there anymore. Shepard covered his hand with his own. 

“We should tell Doctor Chakwas that we're okay,” he said, reluctantly.

“I sent her a message,” Shepard said and leaned in for another kiss.

Kaidan pulled back to get another question out, but Shepard replied even before he managed to form words.

“Liara and Garrus are fine. Liara is trying to make some sense of the Cerberus notes, and Garrus is beating up James. I mean, sparring. And before you ask, there's nothing we should be doing until we reach the Citadel.”

“Okay,” Kaidan said against his lips. 

It wasn't like he wanted to leave the bed any time soon. He had been so convinced he had lost this man, and to have him back, laughing and horny... well. The Reapers could damn well wait for a few hours.


End file.
